The Sapodilla is a beautiful ornamental tree, grown for its delicious, sweet fruits tasting somewhat like pears sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon.
The Alano is a cultivar which originated as a seedling of the Philippine variety Ponderosa.
The self fertile, productive trees produce large, very sweet, fine textured fruits.
The trees are very adaptable to various soils and climates here in Hawaii, being tolerant to drought, coral soils, and are very wind resistant.
The trees also retain much of their leaves throughout the year and have a non aggressive root system.
I live on the surf side of Oahu, Hawaii near the beach and concur that the tree does well in beach sand soil and salty wind conditions.
Synonym:Manilcara achras
Synonym:Sapota achras
Synonym:Achras zapota
Synonym:Manilkara chiku
Sapodilla belongs to the family Sapotaceae.
Various species of Sapodilla are grown and used worldwide for different purposes.
The species most popular for its fruit in Singapore and Southeast Asia is the Manilkara zapota.
Aka: Manilkara achras, Achras zapota or Nispero achras, a derivative of the Greek word achras for the Pear tree, because of the fruit's resemblance to a pear.
The flesh is sweet, soft and reddish-brown. The fruits have very few seeds in them that are hard, black, elongated, flattened and shiny.
A uniquely flavored fruit, the soft brown flesh of the sapodilla tastes a bit like a sweet mix of brown sugar and root beer.
Sapodilla is a Tucatan native of Central America, Mexico, Northeastern Guatemala and the West Indies, where it is a tall tree found in forests.
Spanish colonialists brought a variety of Manilkara to Manila where it became known for its fruit.
From the Philippines, it spread throughout Southeast Asia as a popular fruit tree.
Various species of sapodilla are now cultivated in Africa, India, East Indies, Philippines, Malaysia, the tropics and sub-tropics of the Americas
and they are found in almost all tropical countries worldwide.
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